There is no absolute guidance on where these units will most likely be
rebuilt, because the interpretation and enforcement of the rules
governing public housing is the very definition of arbitrary and
capricious. The best available evidence on the most likely placements
comes from the rulings in the Westchester
case which HUD appears to be using as their new standard for
other communities.

Westchester is a county so the ruling governed the placement of public
housing in their next lowest subdivision which was the municipalities
within the county. Applying that principal to the City of Galveston,
its next lowest subdivision would be the census tract.

The judge in Westchester ordered
the County to place 84% of its new public housing units in
municipalities where the percentage of the Black population was less
than 3%, another 8% in municipalities where the percentage of the Black
population was less than 7%, and the final 8% in cities where the
percentage of the Black population was less than 14%.

If these same criteria are applied to Galveston census tracts, 84% of
the rebuilt public housing units would be placed west of 99th Street
(Census Tracts 7260 & 7261), another 8% would be placed in the
two areas roughly bounded by 43rd and 57th Streets from Avenue S to
Seawall (CT 7255), plus 69th and 81st Streets from Jones Drive to
Stewart Road (CT 7257), and the final 8% would be placed in the areas
roughly bounded by 43rd and 61st Streets from Broadway to Avenue S (CT
7253 & 7254), plus 59th and 75th Streets from Jones Drive to the north side of Offatts Bayou along
Teichman Road (CT 7258).

Some may believe that 84% of the replacement public housing cannot be
rebuilt west of 99th Street unless it is limited to areas behind the
Seawall, such as near Evia, but the GHA’s original plan
ignored federal floodplain rules, so building west of the Seawall will
not necessarily be a problem. The argument will be that if the middle
and upper middle class can live there, by elevating structures to meet
the latest building codes, then members of the LMI class should be
offered the same opportunity, if GHA builds to the same codes.

Another argument may be that most of the replacement public housing
cannot be rebuilt in this area, because it is not served by public
transportation. However, expert
testimony in Thompson v HUD (Page 30, Footnote 103) made a
compelling case that remedies must be found for transportation barriers
in high opportunity areas. It would be very easy for whoever is
controlling the fate of this city, whether it is HUD or Texas
Appleseed, to simply demand that the City extend their bus lines out to
their West End projects, or lose federal funding.

The GOGP maintains that the ideal solution for the City, and the
residents of public housing, is to rebuild all 569 units on the
Mainland in areas that meet the proper racial composition, are removed
from the floodplain, do not add to this city’s housing
surplus, and offer educational and economic opportunities that are
unavailable in Galveston. Unfortunately, the Poverty Industry wants
them all back on the Island, and on more or less the same footprints,
while outside groups or agencies are more likely to insist on West End
locations, if they refuse to consider Mainland placements.

Hopefully, residents of the census tracts mentioned above will join our
effort to move to a countywide public housing plan that will locate any
future public housing units in an equitable way throughout the Mainland
areas of the County.